Track & Field

Track & field wraps up day one at NCAA Championships

Michael Wagenveld

May 26, 2016

WAVERLY, Ia. – In the first day of the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Waverly, Iowa, six individuals and one relay team competed for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Two track athletes advanced from preliminary races in the 1500m and 200m on Thursday to the finals of the respective events on Saturday while two field athletes completed their events in discus and pole vault. All times listed are in Central Daylight Time.

In the men's 1500m event, the top four from each of the two heats plus the next four best times qualified for the finals. Junior Joshua Sealand (HMC) and senior Evan Molineux (CMC) both competed. Sealand qualified for the finals as he finished in fifth in his heat and tenth overall at 3:49.41. Molineux came in at 18th with a time of 3:57.26. Sealand will race in the finals on Saturday at 1:25 p.m.

In the prelims for the women's 1500m, sophomore Bryn McKillop (SCR) was less than two seconds off the highest qualifying time at 4:37.28. She placed seventh in her heat and 16th overall.

The men's pole vault was the very first event of the day and moved up even earlier due to some weather complications. Sophomore Michael Wagenveld (CMC) competed for CMS, coming in as the No. 10 seed. He easily hit the first two marks of 4.65m and 4.80m and took two tries to get over the 4.90m mark. Unable to muster a vault over the 5.0m bar, Wagenveld finished in 11th place.

Racing just before the men's 1500m, sophomore Tyra Abraham (SCR), sophomore Aiyanna Cameron-Lewis (CMC), freshman Sabrine Griffith (CMC) and junior Liz Lee (HMC) competed in the women's 4x100m relay. The Athenas' team finished in 16th with a time of 48.04, less than a second behind the necessary time to qualify for the finals.

Abraham also raced in the prelims of the 200m dash. The top finisher in each of the three heats plus the five next best times qualified for the finals which will be held on Saturday at 3:50 p.m. She came in as the No. 3 finisher in the second heat and fifth overall at 24.61 seconds (0.06 seconds better than her current best and CMS record).

The only women's field event that CMS competed in on Thursday was the discus throw. Junior Vaiva Palunas (SCR) threw her longest in her second attempt at 43.15m (141-07). This distance was good for 11th place. Palunas will also compete in the shot put (Friday 12 p.m.) and hammer throw (Saturday 11:30 a.m.).

The schedule for CMS on Friday, May 27 is: women's shot put at 12 p.m., women's 400m prelims at 5 p.m., women's 100m prelims at 5:30 p.m., and women's 800m prelims at 6 p.m. All times are in Central Daylight Time.